NuraTrue Pro Hands-on Review: Welcome to Lossless TWS Earphones

Nura is a company that has made it perfectly clear from its first product - the Nuraphone, that it was not going to play the imitation game. The Australian based company builds its products on a stack of patents, and makes a serious wave every time a new product is released.

Its latest endeavor with the NuraTrue Pro doesn't seem obvious at first-glance, since it looks highly similar to its older sibling: the NuraTrue. However the bold claim the company is boasting is that these are the first TWS earbuds to use the Qualcomm aptX Lossless Bluetooth encoding, enabling for the first time CD quality sound to be transmitted over-the-air. However, how much of a difference does this make? Does it actually impact real-life listening? And how will this latest addition impact Nura's existing unique arsenal of innovative IPs? Let's dive in to find out.

More Detail, Starting from the Outside

As mentioned above, the difference between the NuraTrue and the Pro model doesn't seem too obvious on the surface. The charging cases are identical, the overall profile of the earbuds are also identical. The main changes that have been made are on the faceplate area. Whereas the NuraTrue face is made of a single piece of plastic with an embossed Nura logo, the NuraTrue Pro has an added blackmirror finish on the faceplate circumference, and a matching finish on the logo. The change is minute but unmistakable, and does give off a 'pro' vibe.

Feature Upgrade on the Hardware

The first notable hardware upgrade in the new NuraTrue Pro I found was the Qi-enabled wireless charging case, which is quite meaningful as it makes the earphones truly wireless - no more charging cables needed. The little top-ups that it gets on the charging pad from time-to-time means it will almost never run out of battery for day-to-day use.

Nura summarized the difference between the pro model and its predecessor on their website, and in terms of the hardware, under-the-cover there is also an upgrade of the driver to a titanium diaphragm - which results in an improvement in high frequency response; an improvement in the battery life - despite having the same capacity, meaning it's an efficiency improvement; and an upgrade in the Bluetooth radio overall, from supporting multi-point connections (Connected to multiple devices at once) to the expansion in its Bluetooth codec types, including the top billed aptX Lossless connectivity.

Enabling the aptX Lossless

Reviewing the NuraTrue Pro with its aptX Lossless codec has been quite a journey, because implementing the technology is so new, that we actually had trouble finding a device that supported it. Thankfully Nura started sending out loan units of ASUS ZenFone 9, which is one of the very first phones to support the new codec. However this means if you are after Lossless Bluetooth audio, you will need to choose from the limited selection of devices - at least for now.

After setting up the ZenFone 9 however, we were faced with yet another obstacle: we weren't sure if our connection was Lossless or not. This took some more learning and explanation from the staff at Nura that the Lossless connection is not a separate codec on the phone, but rather part of the spectrum of codecs that's offered by the aptX Adaptive. The way how aptX Adaptive works is that if the connection between the devices is good, it will connect to more demanding and higher quality Bluetooth codecs. Conversely, if the connection is not so good, it will automatically select the next quality down to ensure a continuous flow of music.

Once you get these hardware and software challenges out the way, finally you get the aptX Lossless that can only be offered by very few devices on the market at the moment.

Wireless Audiophile?

Finally, the all important question is: just how does it sound? Does it truly deliver the audiophile high-resolution sound that Nura is aiming for? By toggling the HD Audio option in the Bluetooth setting, I was able to ABX test the difference between SBC (Standard Bluetooth Connection) and the aptX Adaptive Lossless connection.

The aptX Lossless connection offers a noticeable change in resolution, especially in the higher frequencies. I'm not hearing more details in the music, but rather more nuance in the details. While some people might dismiss the minute difference, that is precisely what being an audiophile is about: to pursue that last 1% of accuracy and detail. In that sense, Nura truly achieved what no other TWS earbuds have managed to do so far with its implementation of Lossless Bluetooth connection.

Nura in fact went for a secondary objective, by implementing an option spatial audio powered by Dirac Virtuo. Before getting to that I have to say that even without spatial audio enabled, NuraTrue Pro has one of the best sound stages and instrument separation as far as TWS earphones go. Music has excellent presentation and holographic imaging coming off these earphones that makes you notice parts that you have missed in the past - quite an achievement since TWS earphones are hardly known for their ability to produce highly detailed sound.

With the Dirac Virtuo spatial audio turned on, on top of the already excellent stereo holographic imaging, it adds depth to each instrument so that some sounds are closer and some are further away. Again, it's quite a subtle difference, but it's noticeable. You do need to note however, that by activating spatial audio, the codec won't be Lossless but limited to a less demanding connection, so there's a tradeoff that should be considered.

Personally I found that even with the spatial audio off, I'm already enjoying the soundstage of the NuraTrue Pro, along with the unprecedented amount of nuance in the details - it led me to leave the function off most of the time.

Final Verdict

The NuraTrue Pro has indeed improved on the NuraTrue - which in my opinion was already Nura's best creation so far, making the best even better. I didn't cover many of its other features like the Nura personalized sound, the array of fit tips and wings, ANC and the immersive bass boost prowess. You can find most of it covered in our review of the NuraTrue, and the latest Pro model either matches all these functionalities or better.

The biggest improvement in the NuraTrue Pro has to be the aptX Lossless connectivity. For those who demand the very best in sound quality, yet want the convenience of a True Wireless Stereo earbud, these are the only buds currently in the market that can produce 44.1 kHz, 16 bit CD-quality lossless audio. For pushing the boundaries of wireless technology, and being one of the best sounding TWS earphones on the market, we're awarding the NuraTrue Pro the IBTimes Best Product badge.

David is a tech enthusiast/writer who is often on the move and is on a mission to explore ways to make his overhaul flights more enjoyable. This is a contribution to an ongoing IBTimes review series on gadgets for Business Travelers.